Gyllenhaal stuns as a sociopathic TV cameraman in ‘Nightcrawler’

If Sidney Lumet's "Network" and Billy Wilder' s "Ace in the Hole'' had a mutant baby, it would probably look like Dan Gilroy's "Nightcrawler," a pitch-black satire of local TV news in Los Angeles with an eye-popping performance by Jake Gyllenhaal as the paparazzo from Hell.

Kirk Douglas' ruthless "Ace'' reporter — exploiting a man trapped in a collapsed mine for all it's worth — is a model of ethics compared with Gyllenhaal's Lou Bloom.

In his own twisted way, Lou is just as much a bloodsucker as Dracula, in a horror story that this tabloid veteran can attest is not as far removed from reality as you might assume.

Jake Gyllenhaal in "Nightcrawler."Photo: Open Road Films

A flat-out sociopath who makes Robert De Niro's loner in "Taxi Driver'' seem positively social, Lou shoves his way into the news business as a freelance cameraman simply because it's potentially more profitable than swiping and reselling fencing from construction sites or fancy bikes at Venice Beach.

Gyllenhaal's cameraman receives valuable mentoring from Nina (Rene Russo) — a seen-it-all, bargain-basement variation on Faye Dunaway's "Network'' character. She'll show practically any kind of outrageous audience-bait on the 6 a.m. news to secure her tenuous hold on her job as news director on the vampire shift.

"Think of our newscast as a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut,'' is Nina's updated version of the old adage, "If it bleeds, it leads.''

Lou, who has a great eye for images, is tutored by Nina that suburban crime with white victims and "urban'' perps is a sure ratings-getter.

He quickly learns how to race veteran rival cameraman Bill Paxton to breaking crime scenes with the help of his mercilessly bullied, barely paid — and often terrified — "intern'' driver (British actor Ahmed Riz, who is simply terrific).

It's a bravura, career-changing tour-de-force from a newly gaunt Gyllenhaal, who reportedly lost 30 pounds for the role. His eyes pop out of his head as he spouts a nonstop stream of managerial jargon picked up from the Internet to rationalize his stunningly insensitive behavior.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo in "Nightcrawler."Photo: Open Road Films

Lou's blood-spattered crime-scene-gets are extremely compelling — he isn't above rearranging personal belongings or even bodies for effect. Even a hard case like Nina is forced to accede to her protégé's escalating demands for more money, more credit and maybe even some nookie from Nina, who's twice as old as Lou.

"Nightcrawler" climaxes with our sleazy hero illegally withholding evidence from the cops in a major crime to milk the story for all it's worth. What he finally ends up capturing on tape is truly jaw dropping — and utterly appalling.

It's not easy to make a journalism movie even more cynical than 1951's "Ace in the Hole,'' which has only been seriously challenged by the super-prescient "Network" (which predicted the horrors of reality TV), from 1976.

Making a stunning directing debut, Dan Gilroy (who also wrote the take-no-prisoners script and is married to Renee Russo) basically turns the audience into rubberneckers at an automobile accident — you want to look away, but it's very tough.

Part of the fascination is wondering just how far down the sewer Gilroy will let his feral antihero descend in "Nightcrawler.'' And will the cameraman will be punished for it? The answer is exhilarating, at least if you have the stomach for it.

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